diff --git a/Jenkinsfile b/Jenkinsfile
index fe1d254..1d1f4a1 100644
--- a/Jenkinsfile
+++ b/Jenkinsfile
@@ -93,18 +93,23 @@ stage('Deploy') {
 bash <<EOF
 set -euxo pipefail
 
+SSH_OPTS="-i ${SSH_KEY} -o BatchMode=yes -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null"
+
+echo "Testing remote SSH connectivity"
+ssh ${SSH_OPTS} "${APP_USER}@${APP_HOST}" "whoami && hostname && pwd"
+
 echo "Deploying image tag: ${IMAGE_BUILD}"
 docker image inspect "${IMAGE_BUILD}" --format='{{.Id}} {{.RepoTags}}'
 
-ssh -i "$SSH_KEY" "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" "mkdir -p $DEPLOY_PATH/scripts"
+ssh ${SSH_OPTS} "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" "mkdir -p $DEPLOY_PATH/scripts"
 
 rsync -az \
-  -e "ssh -i $SSH_KEY" \
+  -e "ssh ${SSH_OPTS}" \
   docker-compose.prod.yml \
   "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST:$DEPLOY_PATH/"
 
 rsync -az \
-  -e "ssh -i $SSH_KEY" \
+  -e "ssh ${SSH_OPTS}" \
   scripts/ \
   "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST:$DEPLOY_PATH/scripts/"
 
@@ -115,27 +120,27 @@ ls -lh "${IMAGE_TAR}"
 sha256sum "${IMAGE_TAR}"
 
 echo "Copying image archive to remote host via scp"
-scp -i "$SSH_KEY" "${IMAGE_TAR}" "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST:$DEPLOY_PATH/"
+scp ${SSH_OPTS} "${IMAGE_TAR}" "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST:$DEPLOY_PATH/"
 
 echo "Verifying image archive exists on remote host"
-ssh -i "$SSH_KEY" "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" "ls -lh $DEPLOY_PATH/plesk-agency-portal-build.tar"
-ssh -i "$SSH_KEY" "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" "sha256sum $DEPLOY_PATH/plesk-agency-portal-build.tar"
+ssh ${SSH_OPTS} "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" "ls -lh $DEPLOY_PATH/plesk-agency-portal-build.tar"
+ssh ${SSH_OPTS} "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" "sha256sum $DEPLOY_PATH/plesk-agency-portal-build.tar"
 
 echo "Loading image archive on remote host"
-ssh -i "$SSH_KEY" "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" "docker load -i $DEPLOY_PATH/plesk-agency-portal-build.tar"
+ssh ${SSH_OPTS} "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" "docker load -i $DEPLOY_PATH/plesk-agency-portal-build.tar"
 
 echo "Verifying exact image tag is available on remote host"
-ssh -i "$SSH_KEY" "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" "docker image inspect ${IMAGE_BUILD} --format='{{.Id}} {{.RepoTags}}'"
+ssh ${SSH_OPTS} "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" "docker image inspect ${IMAGE_BUILD} --format='{{.Id}} {{.RepoTags}}'"
 
-ssh -i "$SSH_KEY" "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" \
+ssh ${SSH_OPTS} "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" \
   "cd $DEPLOY_PATH && chmod +x ./scripts/deploy-prod.sh ./scripts/smoke-check.sh ./scripts/rollback-prod.sh"
 
 echo "Running remote deploy script with exact image tag"
-ssh -i "$SSH_KEY" "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" \
+ssh ${SSH_OPTS} "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" \
   "cd $DEPLOY_PATH && APP_IMAGE='${IMAGE_BUILD}' ./scripts/deploy-prod.sh"
 
 echo "Printing final running container image metadata"
-ssh -i "$SSH_KEY" "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" "docker inspect plesk-agency-portal --format='{{.Image}} {{.Created}}'"
+ssh ${SSH_OPTS} "$APP_USER@$APP_HOST" "docker inspect plesk-agency-portal --format='{{.Image}} {{.Created}}'"
 EOF
       '''
     }